The sun was just beginning to set as Shubha Mudgal wrapped up her concert with a mellifluous dadra, the bright yellows of her sari perfect foil to the dark colours of the sky. We were at the IMG Janfest at St. Xavier’s college this Sunday evening. The evening began with Shubha Mudgal’s deep voice which filled the air and the senses completely. No outside sounds filtering in… No distractions, except the frequent streaks of colour as pretty young girls (from the college) walked past, dressed in their mothers’ best silk sari and jewellery, an occasional stray kite landing amidst the audience, string limply hanging by its side, and kites of the other (avian) variety soaring high above the buildings… And Shubha Mudgal’s brilliant smile that flashed across her face regularly, in evident enjoyment of the music in and around her….
As the sun set and the lights came on slowly in the open-air quadrangle “auditorium”, there was a new magic in the air… Partho Sarathy had started his performance (sarod) with Anindo Chatterji on the tabla… Waiting for Ustad Rashid Khan to perform next, my mind slowly wandered… To force-fed music classes during my school days (needless to say, unsuccessfully) and to stack upon stack of cassettes of Carnatic music everywhere in the house…
(And this is my cue to warn you to read ahead at your own risk : rambly post on classical music ahead)
***
I grew up in a house where the day began to the strains of MS’ Suprabhatam, followed by Maharajapuram Santanam or D.K. Pattammal. And Mali and Ramani on the flute late in the evening, a beautiful way to end any day… And occassionally, when my mother got her way, Pandit Ravi Shankar or Bhimsen Joshi…
Carnatic music to me has always been the more formal, rigid form of classical music, when compared to Hindustani. It was the gift of the privileged, the Tambram with his veshti and her diamond nose stud, the one lucky enough to be born into music. It reached out to the connoisseur, the knowledgable devotee and not the casual listener. It meant December kutcheris in the hallowed premises of Music Academy and Narada Gana Sabha; and the future of young new artists made or broken by a nod from the supreme music critic Subbudu
Carnatic music was about bhakti, devotion, calling out to Lord Rama, often in a language that neither the artiste nor the listener understood. (Very rarely physical love, as expressed by Andal for her imagined husband-lover Krishna). And so, it seemed to me as I sat through concerts, it was a performer singing for the self and not the audience…
As I grew up and listened to more and more Hindustani music, I was drawn towards it – a form that seemed to have lesser distance between the performer (the art itself) and the audience… Music that dealt with not just devotion of the more spiritual kind but more earthy emotions. Calling out to Lord Krishna, the lover with a searing thumri (derived from thumak, or the coquettish swaying gait of a young girl), the fast tempo of a dadra, the romantic light moods of a kajri… Why have you, my lover, been out all night?. Bhajans of Kabir and Meera living on through the centuries…
And drawing disciples from “outside”, predominantly Muslims; Ustad Aamir Khan and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan to Begum Parween Sultana and Ustad Rashid Khan down the years… Embracing more forms than the strictly traditional; even Shubha Mudgal in red in the rain singing ab ke sawan aise barse…
***
Till a decade or so ago when things changed down South… Carnatic music was no longer the bastion of the traditional and the “pure”. I would credit this largely to Balamurali Krishna (truly the “pioneer” in this respect) with his attempts at bringing Carnatic music closer to the people; for instance, his weekly program on television Swara Raga Sudha, exploring one raga every week, and playing popular songs from films based on that raga. (Although MKT or MK Thyagaraj Bhagavatar was the reigning heart-throb of my grandmother’s generation, thanks to his appearance in popular movies of the 1930s!)
And over the years, Yesudas (his name meaning ‘disciple of Jesus’), his rich deep voice combining melody with devotion, Kumaresh and Ganesh on the violin, with magic in their hands and bubblegum in their mouths, Bombay Jayashri’s spirited rendition of Bharatiyar songs in the semi classical style (in contrast to MS or DK Pattammal), the Priya sisters with their short hair and smart looks… New, young, refreshing voices – the future of Carnatic music…
Walking through the Janfest photo gallery at Xavier’s, more thoughts… Where are the new young voices in Hindustani music (except for the odd occasional one)… Musicians have been busy passing on the baton to their own children; keeping it within the family at the cost of overshadowing talented disciples who will keep their name and gharana alive… Rahul Sharma, Aman and Ayaan Ali, Durga Jasraj, Anoushka Shankar…
And finally, the extinction of that supreme experience for a music lover – the jugalbandi; two equally accomplished musicians competing with and complementing each other on stage, while the audience soaked in the music, spellbound. I remember very well this televised jugalbandi between Balamurali Krishna and Bhimsen Joshi many many years ago, each weaving his own spell, each vying for that one level higher, each with his own supporters in the audience fighting over how he had licked the other to a pulp…
***
During the last concert of the evening, Ustad Rashid Khan invoking the name of Shiva why don’t you hear me? why don’t you visit my temple?, Uma leans over and whispers, if only the fundamentalists could listen to Rashid Khan singing about Shankar Bhagwan… Yes, if only…
Related : Mumbai Girl on Krishna Nee Begane Baro and Harini on Where Parvati cannot sing for Shiva
Very nice article. On a topic that I love. π
As usual, with anything aesthetic there will always be likes and dislikes. I definitely agree that
Rahul Sharma, Aman and Ayaan Ali, Durga Jasraj, Anoushka Shankar are sad replacements for what could’ve been a nice tradition. [Although Jaraj’s claim of “Mewati” gharana is laughed at among knowledgeable folks. Jasraj was good as long as his elder brother Mani Ram was alive. Then he became a celebrity. His brother Pratap Narayan fizzled out, but Pratap Narayan’s daughter Sulakshana Pandit was a reasonably good film singer. His other children Vijeta, Jatin, Lalit are not singers at all – classical or otherwise. :-)]
I daresay that people like Mukul Shivputra (s/o of Kumar Gandharva) has kept the flame alive (when he is sober). Though, Gwalior gayaki is as good as it can be with Smt. Malini Rajurkar. But who can hold a candle to Smt. Kishori Amonkar, eh?
Disagree about Yesudas. His pronunciation, sur-taal and knowledge are not good enough for him to be put in the rung of good classical singers. My mom was hugely upset when he began a concert with a “laali” (lullaby). π
I had seen Rashid Khan in 1992 and he was promising. Didn’t enjoy him lately. [Could’ve been one of his off-days though.]
I do agree with your statement on the conservative nature of Carnatic, albeit, Jayadeva’s ashtapadi was as raunchy as they come and it is performed frequently in Carnatic. π
Topic for another day; Marathi natya sangeet & Kannada-Marathi Dasa/Sant vani. π I’ve comment-hogged enough already.
Quizman, thanks for this interesting comment… you have mentioned here the twin ‘problems’ that come in the way of great music – celebrity-status-hunting (usually starts with the first successful concert abroad) and drink (he was a great performer, when he was sober – if you have heard it once, you’ve heard it about most)…
didn’t Sulakshana Pandit sing ‘beqaraar-e-dil tu gaaye ja’ with Kishore? is ther only song I remember of hers – and I was quite impressed… didn’t know Sulakshana Pandit and the rest were related this way to jasraj though-
“But who can hold a candle to Smt. Kishori Amonkar, eh?” true, so true… my mother was recently talking about how Marathi women were earlier never allowed to learn music or dance – they were seen to be only for the not-so-decent women – how things have changed… (any thoughts on this? see if you can explore it in your post on Marathi natya-sangeet)…
Yesudas – my point here was more about how he broke into a conservative circle – as a Christian and an outsider – but he was very good in the initial days when he performed along with and under Chembai… problem was he started film singing parallelly nd we know what that does to a voice… I heard him a coupe of years ago on tv – SHUDDER SHUDDER.
Ashtapadi – the version I have truly enjoyed was Balamurali’s – his voice drips with the shringara rasa evident in the lyrics… others have tried to sing it as aseptically as possible π
Rashid Khan – I have always enjoyed… go on, try once more…
Charu,
Thanks! I will blog shortly on a Maharastrian woman feminist artiste. I have sent it as a quiz question to some friends and I am waiting for their response before plunging in. π
Yes, Sulakshana sang that song quite well. Giitaayan has the lyrics of more songs of hers.
Wow, a post on classical music! A neatly done!
It was the gift of the privileged, the Tambram with his veshti and her diamond nose stud…
Uh-oh Charu… The nadaswaram vidwans. Who hasn’t heard of Rajaratnam Pillai’s Thodi? Semmangudi would go on and on praising their music and contribution. Veena Dhannammal, Brinda-Muktha, etc. How were they privileged? But yes, they were all born into a musical tradition.
However, it’s true that Carnatic music doesn’t seem to reach to lay people easily. One reason is probably the preponderance of Telugu compositions, which most people can’t understand. (The classical film numbers were very popular around MKT’s time, though.) MS Subbulakshmi is a notable exception. I haven’t been to the north, but I am curious to know how popular the vilambit kal alaaps are among people.
And to Quizman’s mention of Ashtapadi, may I add Narayana Theertha’s Krishna Leela Tharangini, the padams and javalis. Even Tyagaraja’s Nauka Charitram is of shringara bhava. However, these are either in Telugu/Sanskrit – so no one might get the meaning. In fact, I don’t.
If you are looking for non-Hindus in Carnatic, Sheikh Chinna Moula is a notable example. Many might not have heard of Abraham Pandithar (musicologist) and Vedanayagam Pillai (composer). (both Christians)
A neatly done post on a topic I love. I agree with what you had to say – you are right there are hardly any new and upcoming singers in Hindustani music. While one trip to Madras in December will rest everybody’s fears about the Carnatic music at ease :).
In Hyderabad every year we have the Motiram-Maniram Sangeet Samaroh organized by Pandit Jasraj where the younger generation of classical artistes take centre stage. I always felt that this was one of the best ways of showcasing young talents. And most of them are real good. Sadly though it is only when stalwarts like Zakir Hussain make an appearance that the audience come thronging.
Lovely post. Among the newer generation of Hindustani clasical singers I like Ulhas Kashalkar and Ashwini Bhide Deshpande. If you like Dhrupad there is Uday Bhawalkar (vocal) and Baha’uddin Dagar (rudra veena). Wasifuddin Dagar is also supposed to be good, though I haven’t heard him at any length.
Quizman, will look forward to that post…
Sikanth, my point was not that there were NO non-hindu/tam-brams at all, but that the majority of the “greats” were from that community – well, MS herself was not from that community, so…
sure, casual listeners may not enjoy strictly classical hindustani, but there has always been scope for “lighter” pieces to keep the audience engaged – a very positive trend that can be seen in carnatic music too in the recent years…
Emma, thanks! yup, sadly it is still only the big names who still draw crowds… that way the december kutcheri season gives new performers a lot of exposure…
Mumbai girl, thanks! have not heard Uday Bhawalkar (not even heard of him)… I guess that is what my point was… one does not even hear of the newer artists…
Uday Bhawalkar is good. Isn’t Ulhas Kashalkar a middlge-aged gent? I guess, by “newer” generation, MG was referring to the generation that succeeded Pt Bhimsen Joshi, Pt. Mansur, etc.
Meanwhile, enjoy this superb Basavaraj Rajguru bandish. It was mauled by the incorrigible Ismail Durbar in HDDCS with the eager help of Sultan Khan.
Dear Charu,
I don’t think branding carnatic music as only devoted to devotion is correct. More aptly it was the artistes that chose only krithis from the three saints of thiruvaiyaru that made it look like it. One of the main causes for this is the strong hold that Brahmins of tamil nadu have on this aspect of the culture and in the name of maintaining the purity, rarely they sang tamil songs on stage.
It was only in the 80’s that including tamil songs became popular. K Balachander’s take on this in Sindhu Bhairavi definetely brought this issue within the purveyance of popular cinema.
Apart from Andal, Bharathiar and papanasam sivam wrote lot of songs but rarely people sang them in concerts.
Bharathiar says ” mogathai kondruvidu allal en moochai niruthividu”. Far from devotion. In AVM’s “Naam Iruvar” lot of Bharathiar songs were used. On and off Bharathiar songs have been used in Tamil Cinema. If you read bharathiar kavithaigal he even says which ragam to sing the song in. But rarely the carnatic musicians sang them in concerts.
Ilaiyaraja brought in a whole lot of dimension into popularising carnatic raagas in his songs. He never received the well deserving credit for experimenting the orchestration of carnatic music. May be he wasn’t a brahmin, that is why.
With Regards
Narasimhan
Ah. IMG. The memories.
That’s where I was introduced to Indian classical music. And was lucky enough to see and hear some of the best, live, in that quadrangle in my college years. Starting the night in the cheapest seats, the baithak area, and then sneaking into the expensive chairs when the toffs vacated to go home.
Thanks for bringing it back.
p
He never received the well deserving credit for experimenting the orchestration of carnatic music. May be he wasnΓ’β¬β’t a brahmin, that is why
I disagree. The L brothers [Shankar, Subramaniam, Vaidyanathan] have done a lot of work with fusion – much better than anything Ilaiyaraja has put out (e.g. ‘Nothing but Wind’ is run of the mill when compared to the brilliant ‘Conversations’ by L. Subramaniam with Stephane Grapelli), but their albums don’t sell all that well. I don’t think it has anything to do with casteism. It is simply a case of the form being more accessible to conservative listeners. It is analogous to philharmonic orchestras playing Mozart or Beethoven and not anything from the 20th century.
In fact, long ago Chitti Babu came out with a “light” album that had stuff like ‘Wedding Bells’. Conservatives sniffed in disdain and stuck to traditional stuff by (veena) Balchander.
Btw, the most famous Carnatic musician from (my state) Karnataka, N. Chowdiah was not a brahmin. He is revered by everyone in Karnataka, brahmin or otherwise. As far as Hindustani musicians from Karnataka are concerned, Pt. Mallikarjun Mansur & Basavaraj Rajguru were lingayats and not brahmins. That said, a quite a lot of Hindustani musicians from Karnataka are indeed, brahmins [Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hangal, Kumar Gandharva (Shivputra Siddaramaiah Komkali), Ramarao Naik, Parvatikar etc], but they deviated away from their traditional homes in pursuit of music.
Speaking of which, of the “new” breed of Carnatic musicians, I like Sudha Raghunathan a lot. But then I was always biased towards her guru, MLV.
Btw, to add to Srikanth’s non-Hindu musicians list – the redoubtable John Higgins.
Ooh. And one memorable jugalbandi from all those years ago that I must gloat about.
Somebody didn’t show up, so there was an impromptu session. Ustad Alla Rakha and Taufiq Qureshi. And Zakir and Fazal Qureshi.
Bliss.
Dear Quizman,
I wasn’t even referring to Nothing But Wind or How to Name it? (the one which you didn’t mention) when I said ilaiyaraja’s experiments with orchestration of carnatic raagas. I was referring to only Tamil Film music.
Listen to “Andhi Mazhai Pozhigarathu” from Raja Parvai.
With Regards
S. Narasimhan
GENERAL QUESTION : why has no one mentioned Begum Parween Sultana. listening to her voice rise to unimaginable heights, waiting for it to break at some point, the tension, the superb control. Oh my god. and if anyone is even thinking ‘shrill’ forget it, spare me please π
I like Ajoy Chakraborty too – his voice – though haven’t heard him much…
Of the Carnatic musicians, my favorite is Nithyashree. she started very rough and raw and very talented and has acquired style too over time… like Bombay Jaishri’s voice. Sudha is no longer new or young π – she is very accomplished, “senior” musician now in the circuit…
Quizman, yup, in fact there is a picture of Ulhas K in today’s ToI… think we’ve all been talking about new(er) and young(er) musicians, as you say, after the Bhimsen Joshi generation…
I don’t think Ilayaraja’s “fusion” albums were very good… found it very basic stuff but yes, it reached out to more people. maybe becasue of his film background – nothing to do with caste there please.
I also read somewhere that Ilayaraja had plagiarised a lot of research that Padma Subramaniam had done on music and so on. no idea how true that is…
and I still have Chitti Babu’s cassette. lovely lilting music there. but considering that the “English note” was a very popular thing with many musicians (Madurai Mani Iyer), this kind of snobbery was avoidable!
Quizman, also what I said about Maharastrian women in music, true also for men-musicians from Maharashtra / karnataka – why are there so many of them – would be interesting to stidy this more… and as you say, many of them deviated from home / family in pursuit of their music…
(and do you have ‘conversations’? heard it and loved it but haven’t been able to find it – please to lend π
zig, Uma was telling me about the all night concerts. sad how these came under the heavy hands of the “law” – now the concerts end by 10…
and you’ve heard Allah Rakha perform live? *sigh*
Emma: in bangalore (also in other places, I think) a concert has two sessions, newbie concert followed by a popular artist. This solves the problem of attendance for the youth concert.
I am sorry, for the rest of the comment which is just getting into an argument.
narasimhan,
I think Ilayaraja is appreciated enough. even the purist, semmangudi called him a “mahavidwan”. His public recognition is well known.
quizman,
I think saying L brothers were better is imposing your musical tastes on others (though I think only two of them were good). and calling “nothing but wind” pedestrian is the same. First, these two people are very different and the fact that they have contributed in innovative ways is what needs to be appreciated. Second, “Conversations” is not the best of L subramaniam, it the only the most popular (as you mention, its the question of availability; conversations is better marketed). same-to-same for “nothing but wind”.
one “music critic” said the eponymous track had disconnected bits of sound like bird tweeting, a train and all that. I had a similar opinion when I first heard it. But when I later “understood” it, it was out-of-the-world! (I should write about it soon). that only shows the ignorance of the critic.
Ilayaraja’s excellent orchestration, beautiful use of ragas, brilliant use of counterpoint, innovative percussion needs no mention. Dont you hear the beautiful bass-guitar in _all_ his songs? His innovation can be seen all over his music. I, in fact, appreciate his “classicals” with U Srinivas and orchestration for pancharatna krithis more. I wonder how many people have even heard of it; NBW and HTNI are the only ones talked about.
Similar arguments can be made for other artists bashed up or praised. the point is, I dont know why we should be comparing two _similar_ artists and find something missing somebodys skill. (specially when the topic is appreciating music).
Narasimhan, hi! yes, Sindhu Bhairavi made a good point about reaching out to the audiences through music that is more accessible to them, closer to their roots… (loved Suhasini in it π nd hted Chitra and her nasal voice even then)… there was a lot of “sanctity” associated with the stage and therefore the need to stick to traditional classical music…. my point in the post is things are changing and that is because of the younger musicians performing Bharatiyar songs and even themmangu kavadi-chindu…
Ilayarja did experiment a lot… no one has used the violin in film music as much and as well as he has, for instance… but he was not the first or only one… Tamil film music has always had a strong classical base…
(by the way, was very disappinted with his recent tiruvasagam-symphony)
and yes, Andi Mazhi is a classic – the TV Gopalakrishnan bit is awesome, the sudden soaring voice… have been humming it all morning since I read this π
VBS, yup, think that is the best way to get people to listen to newer musicians – have their concert as part of a larger one… and yes, I think too that Ilayaraja is appreciated by most, even the “purists” and I certinly think caste has never been an issue. my reference to caste / community in the post was just to show how things are changing, and for the best.
and Quizman was just expressing his opinion here… “better” is as subjective as it gets anyways π
I just spent a few minutes on msn messenger telling a blogger friend that Nithyashri is good and Unnikrishnan is not… and he thought the reverse… (Chandru, are you listening?)
I dont know how to rate singers, but as far as I can tell…
unnikrishnan is a good classical singer but not a good filmi singer π
π
VBS: I was not comparing them per se. I wrote that if Narsimhan felt that the orchestration of Ilayaraja was not appreciated because he was a brahmin, then the L brothers (who were brahmin) were not appreciated either.
And btw, Ilayaraja has not been the first Tamilian to put bird tweets etc in an album. Kunakudi Vaidyanathan had an LP titled ‘Cauvery’ (in the 70s or 80s) which did incorporate all those elements. In my personal opinion, it was “pseudo”. π [Btw, I like Ilayaraja’s film music a lot.]
All, IMHO of course. I know that everytime Ilayaraja is criticised, people launch a jihad.:-P [Not you VBS, you’ve been very nice!]
Charu,
I do have most of L. Subs’ albums on cassette (remember that technology?). π I’ll see if I can convert them into mp3s or something.
Hey Charu you inspired me to do a post on younger singers.
Yeah yeah, I am listening. Sorry to go off abruptly the other day. Had some stuff to pick up and was getting delayed.
I still stand by what I said, public humiliation (or praise) not withstanding. I think Unni is a far better singer than Nithyashree is. One, NS is very predictable. You can tell exactly what note she will hit when and in what kind of songs two minutes into her concert.
Unni’s got the ability to hit any pitch and note. And very rarely, if at all, is he off-key. Awesome. And his pronunciation, be it telegu or tamil is flawless. His voice has a slightly feminine touch to it, but the minute he starts getting into the song, you forget it and then magically, there is a deep, bass note in it too…
I don’t know if it is me, but sometimes, I am kinda put off by MS’s pronunciation. The way she kind of stresses on the “sh” and “ch” sounds. For example, her rendition of “Yenna thavam seidhanai” sounds like “Yenna thavam sheida-nei”
But “Kaatrinile varum geetham” is pure joy. Madurai Mani Iyer is my dad’s all time fave, followed by Maharajapuram Santhanam.
Wow…a post entirely on classical music. Not only am I thrilled that there are so many people here who are know so much about music, but also because there is no name-calling between Hindustani and Carnatic music out here.. I have been a student of Carnatic, initially, and then Hindustani later, and for a longer time, and I have come to love each style differently. Where Carnatic is more lyric-oriented ( for those of you who care to spend a little time in trying to understand the words, you will be pleasantly surprised) – Hindustani has more creativity(generally speaking) and lays very less emphasis on words. A four line Khayal will suffice to give you music for 2 hours.
There is one observation I would like to make. The difference between budding musicians in Hindustani and Carnatic is this – in Carnatic, the moment you show promise, and a good grasp on Raagas, and seem capable of holding forth on your own, the teacher allows the young disciple, however young, to go ahead and perform. But in Hindustani, in my experience, the teacher holds back the disciple for a long time, very long time, and allows him to hold his own concert only after he, the teacher, is satisfied that the disciple is now “Pakka” – Ripe. So while in Carnatic, budding musicians are coming in droves, in Hindustani, they come in a trickle.. some of them fade away almost immediately – the others stay on.
VBS, I don’t “rate” singers either – musicians who perform are so accomplished that I have no right to be critical. I just know I like listening to some of them while I don’t enjoy others π
Unnikrishnan (Ravages, this is for you too) – I loved him when he sang ‘ennavale’ (I was in college than and all ready to swoon at the slightest hint of such voices). but when he sings carnatic music, I switch off… think the final straw was a dad (mine) who walked into my room late one night as I was trying to connect to the net thru a dial up modem (you know the screechy sounds it makes) and said – oh, I thought it was Unnikrishnan singing :))
Quizman, Kunnakudi is very gimmicky but great fun to watch. quite a sport, that man! and yes, I remember cassettes – technology from the last century, wasn’t it? π
Mumbai girl, saw it – going back there for a detiled reading… thanks!
Ravages, read above comment on Unni *sorry*
MS nd her pronunciation – ah! your criticism is the mildest I have heard so far – her Hindi / Sanskrit / brajbhasha with a heavy tamil accent is the stuff legends are made of – but what the hell, her voice is the stuff heaven is made of. deivigam – and there is no judging deivigam. accent or no accent. I listen to MS with my soul and not ears. and so on. *blushing* but it is tue…
Shruthi, thanks! I know what you know about name calling. eeps. like you say, young carnatic musicians go out on stage and learn – from their mistakes and from criticism… and thanks to the kutcheri season, there is always room for more!
Hi charu
Sudha raghunathan is singing in Dombivali tomorrow, I am told. Dunno the venue. Will find out if you are interested
Bubby, thanks! but Dombivili is the other end of the earth from vashi… no go π
This is a very nice post Charu……and you touched upon a point i’ve been trying to put together for a while.
“Sikanth, my point was not that there were NO non-hindu/tam-brams at all, but that the majority of the Γ’β¬ΕgreatsΓ’β¬Β were from that community – well, MS herself was not from that community, soΓ’β¬Β¦”
Actually, historically this is not wholly true. And even with contemporary “greats” (especially women), most of them were non-brahmin. MS, ML Vasanthakumari, the legendary Veena Dhannamal, Brinda, Muktha…..were all from the Isai Velalar community. Music in Tamil Nadu was patronized heavily earlier by the richer Chettiars, and a majority of the musicians in the mid 20th century were Pillais (an endless list of greats). This “brahmin” domination was far less outside Tamil Nadu, and a large number of musicians in Karnataka were non brahmin, and a smaller number in Andhra were non-brahmin.
This really changed from the 60’s……..(perhaps with some association with the rise of the dravidian movement, which associated many aspects of carnatic music with sanskrit and brahmins). Subsequent generations (in TN at least) of musicians remained brahmins. Things slowly started changing in the 90’s (Unnikrishnan is one example of a top rated Carnatic musician (who’s very good) who’s not brahmin).
I hopefully will have a clear post on this some time.
See, Sunil thinks Unni is good too.
uday bhawalkar’s dhrupad style is great …. and among other younger ‘stars’ on the hindustani music scene in mumbai/pune, watch out for sanjeev abhyankar (a student of jasraj) and shaunak abhishek (son of jitendra abhisheki). they keep referring to rashid khan as ‘young’, but he hardly looks that … how old might he be?
Sunil, thanks… for this comment and for the subsequent post on your blog too… I was just trying to put down some random thoughts on how the scape of Carnatic music has changed since even when I can rememeber…
Aditya, I have been heaing so much about Uday Bhawalkar… must go out and listen to him… Rashid Khan is of the “younger” generatrion, but not really young π
“He (Ilayaraja) never received the well deserving credit for experimenting the orchestration of carnatic music… caste….” Apart from the Music Academy (Sangeetha Kalanidhi?) award Ilayaraja has been feted and felicitated by the classical establishment of Madras and the South in general. Years ago he was awarded a trophy by Jayendra Sarasvati (now what was that about caste?). We haven’t seen the best yet of this great musician. Yes I too think that Tiruvasakam fell short of greatness. But then I am sure this is only the first of what is going to be an unending series of compositions from the master. Unfortunately in India we are rather liberal with praise and awards. Or else why would a non-performer like Lata Mangeshkar (she can read out a script but can’t perform to save an elephant from drowning in the bathtub) be awarded the Bharat Ratna? As for MS’s mispronunciation Bade Ghulam Ali Khan thought that it was Sarasvati singing and Ustad Allauddin Khansaheb would not allow his disciples to take up singing because he thought “compared to MS all of you are donkeys”. Carnatic music is surprisingly popular among the masses. About 35 years ago when MS gave a “kalyana reception” concert at Ethiraj Kalyana Mandapam in Alwarpet, she went well beyond her allotted 2 hours and sang late into the night to a highly appreciative audience that was by then overflowing with hoi polloi – cooks, mandpama staff, rickshaw/auto drivers and curious passersby. The same happened at a wedding in Madras when Yesudas sang about 10 years ago. In the deep South in TN wedding processions with nadasvaram in ht eopen air draw 100s.
Hi
Just read your post. I guess you havent heard Shaunak Abhisheki or Shashank Maktedar or Subhra Guha, Kumar Mardur, Venkatesh Kumar, Kala Ramnath to name a few very very talented “youg” artistes.
Ulhas Kashalkar is not some “middle aged gent” yaar. Give me a break. He is the master. Rashid Bhai is very good. You need to seek , search and listen to those wonderful young guys…have you hear dhananjay hegde..or for that matter keerti kumar……
and for your kind info durga jasraj or anoushka shankar are NOT MUSICIANS>>.they are glam dolls liviing off their parent’s glory( respective though)
Siva, Very surprising you have something like this to say for Lataji. It is a shame and disgrace. Sorry to say you have a deaf ear for music and you are not fit to be an Indian.
Some young talented musicians are Prasanna, U. Srinivas, U. Rajesh, Bikram Ghosh, Kala Ramnath, Taufiq Qureshi, Shankar Mahadevan (you should hear his works with Remember Shakti, Mynta and Shraddha).
Suggest you to hear to Guitar Prasanna ( http://artist.amazon.com/prasanna )
Also listen to an album called Krishna Lila by DJ Cheb i Sabbah (its a wonderful album in Carnatic and Hindustani Genre), especially the track Violin Solo (song:Bhajare Yadhunatha) by Baby Sreeram & Party.
Add Ganesh-Kumaresh to the list, and I personally like the album The Confluence by Rahul Sharma and Richard Clayderman, its a beautiful album. Let know if you are interested in exchanging music sometime! π
Cool discussion! I’m lucky to attend numerous live concerts of legends like Ravi Shankar, Aamir Khan, Ali Akbar Khan etc and many other on vinyls (I prefer it to MP3 any day). Don’t think there’s any young musician showing a great promise. But I’m optimistic that there are new talent brewing far from our spotlight. Don’t know much about Carnatic style but Hindusthani music provides an amazingly vast framework, open for experimentation. The problem with the new kids are, they are singing/playing bandishes composed by musicians who lived in another world, another era leading a very different life from theirs. Its often not relevant to their times and lifestyles. Great artists learnt and imbibed the art from their gurus and created their own contemporary models for performance. For example Pandit Ravishankar incorporated guitar style mutes/slaps and chordal patterns within the strict raga framework. It was radical. It was a new trend at that time. Hence he’s a brand. Same with Aamir Khan, Bhimsen Joshi and other greats. They created a style which is significantly different from their gurus. I think we need musicians who are patient learners but radical thinkers, to carry forward the legacy. Shorter time of performances (keep it crisp), is the need of the day. Young musicians attempting long aalap/bilambit sections should be banned from doing so (Not is they’ve enough juice to do that).
I can write for ever but need to sign off now. Will come back later!
I stumbled on the above interesting discussions.As a music lover i thought i will add my ameturish ideas.Till end 2000,i was caught in the cob web of corporate life.
I managed to release myself and now i am a Pranayama teacher as well pranayama-Yoga fusion.
My musical interest is in Devotion(Bhakti)oriented compositions like Sri Purandaradasa.
I enjoy them with tears rolling in my mother tongue Kannada.
Suddenly I was inspired to take it tamil speaking music lovers.So many tranliterations are available but mine is a poetic transalation from kannada to Tamil.
My first book with 54 songs is available for nominal sale.Manescript with 108 songs as vol 2 is ready avaiting a publisher or sponsor.
The deapth of bhakti and vairagya can not be expressed better by any one except Sri Purandara dasa,So he is called Pitamaha of devotional carnatic music.
As per the request from a very senior krishna bakta i am transalating Dasa songs to hindi.
Have a try if you know little bit of music
Kannada
“Maraya beda manave Hariya charanava’
Tamil
“Maravade maname thirumalin thiruvadigalai”
Hindi
“Boolu na jaana he manu hariya charana ko’
so it goes on.
Should you need to interact you are free to contact
tk_jagannathan@yahoo.com
I should add something here.
If there was ever a voice then it had to be of Parween Sultana
If there was ever any thumri singining it should be Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
Aye Na Balam, Ajoy Chakraborty would come second to him but surely Ajoy
Chakraborty’s voice is much better than Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.
If raga exposition is something u want then listen to Aamir Khan malkauns.
From the depth the sudden burst in Aj more ghare ayila balma is breath taking.
But surely not his voice.
Compared to these people Rashid Khan comes a cropper.
I would request you people to listen to records of somebody called Prasun Banerjee,
long dead now but of the few records that he has he has the melody of BGKhan and also
the sweetness of Ramashreya Jha. Very few people outside Bengal know about him, for
reasons I dont want to go into but rendering something with that virtuosity is something
I am sure all of you will acknowledge once you hear.
hi………. this is the first time to write a blog……..can any one suggest me as to how to go with the practice for gamakas……which add flavour to the song…….whch i can never do